Dangerous intersection needs to be made safer

There's one part of his job that Associate Dean of Students Thomas "Sparky" Reardon doesn't enjoy: going to the emergency room to check on students and console family members. On the night of January 23, Reardon spent about three hours at Baptist Memorial Hospital doing what he doesn't like.

That was the night Ole Miss student Artisa Cooley died, and two other students were seriously injured after a horrific car accident at the intersection of Highway 6 and Jackson Avenue.

"Anytime we lose a student, it's a tragic event," Reardon said. "When you're out there and you see the pain, it's pretty tough. It causes stress for anybody that's involved with it."

Reardon said sometimes the young age of students can make coping with a loss even harder. Cooley was 19 -- she had most of her life to look forward to until the fateful accident that took her life less than two weeks ago.

Sadly, Cooley is not the only person who has died at the intersection of Highway 6 and Jackson Avenue. In early 1999, two other people were killed there. Twenty-five others have been injured there within a recent 16-month period.

Most of the injuries at the intersection occurred when drivers attempted to cross the highway's west-bound lane and enter Jackson Avenue. Despite a red light, caution signs and a bright white flasher, people are still getting hurt at what reports prove to be Lafayette County's most dangerous intersection.

State and county officials need to pay more attention to the intersection. Obviously the red light, signs and flasher aren't doing their jobs. People aren't paying attention when crossing the highway or approaching the intersection in the west-bound lane.

The safest solution would be to install an overpass over the highway that would help drivers enter Jackson Avenue without crossing into oncoming traffic. The Jackson Avenue entrance is the only major entrance into Oxford from Highway 6 without an overpass.

While an overpass would be safest, state and county officials will undoubtedly argue money over lives. If priority goes to the dollar, then officials should consider other alternatives such as adding flashing lights to caution signs in the west-bound lane or eliminating the intersection's current yield-on-green light for drivers trying to enter Jackson Avenue.

Additional lights and making drivers wait for an arrow light wouldn't be as safe as an overpass, but they would be cheaper and could possibly result in fewer injuries and fatalities.

Whatever officials argue, they can agree on at least one thing: somebody needs to make the intersection safer. Ole Miss doesn't need to lose another Artisa Cooley.